{"id":34537,"date":"2016-12-18T11:52:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T10:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dandavats.tumblr.com\/post\/154627306646"},"modified":"2017-01-26T14:05:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T13:05:44","slug":"i-will-love-you-if-you-will-love-me-satsvarupa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=34537","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI will love you, if you will love me.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u201cI will love you, if you will love me.\u201d
\nSatsvarupa das Goswami: The first initiation was on Janmastami in 1966 and it was so lackadaisical that people got initiated without seriously considering whether they were going to follow the four rules.
\nI wanted to stay independent. I didn\u2019t think I was ready to get initiated, and besides nobody had asked me to get initiated. So I stayed home and typed for the Swami.
\nThe day after Janmastami I showed up at his door and he said, \u201cOh, you did not come for initiation yesterday.\u201d
\nI said, \u201cNo, but I did some typing.\u201d I gave him the typing and he gave me some grapes.
\nHe saw that unless I got invited I was reluctant to get initiated, to go to the morning class, to go to the feasts.
\nIt was a defect on my part and at that time he said something important to me.
\nHe said, \u201cI will love you, if you will love me.\u201d
\nThat statement made a big change in me.
\nHe exposed that I didn\u2019t love him but I was expecting him to always love me.
\nI thought, \u201cWhy am I holding back my love for him? Is there something I dislike about his face or his way of talking or something? I do not love him, but I\u2019m expecting him to pour love on me.\u201d
\nI looked at all the ugliness inside myself that made me not love the Swami, and I decided that I should kick it out and love him.
\nHe said, \u201cIf you do that, then I\u2019ll love you. But it\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d
\nHe read my heart and my mind and exposed my big barrier.
\nWhen the Swami said, \u201cI will love you, if you will love me,\u201d that became a good instruction for any relationship, certainly with a spiritual master and a disciple or with a husband and wife.
\nYou have to love the other person if you want to be loved.
\nHis words broke a lot of ice, and from then on I stepped forward more and didn\u2019t have to be invited to things.
\nHe once spoke on the telephone about a wedding that he was arranging between Mukunda and Janaki.
\nWhen he hung up the phone he said, \u201cYou\u2019re invited to come to this wedding.\u201d I said, \u201cThank you,\u201d and I went to the wedding.
\nI felt sorry that I had not gotten initiated, so another day I asked him, \u201cCould I get initiated on the next occasion?\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cWell, you\u2019ll have to be a strict vegetarian.\u201d I said, \u201cI already am.\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cYes, then you can be initiated.\u201d
\nThe Swami was teaching from Dr. Radha Krishnan\u2019s Bhagavad-gita. He said, \u201cThe translation is 98% good. Don\u2019t read the purport at all, it\u2019s contaminating, but you can read the translations out loud.\u201d
\nSome of us bought copies of that Gita and during our classes the Swami would ask us to read.
\nHe\u2019d say, \u201cRaymond, read the translation for Chapter 8 Text 7.\u201d
\nWe considered the translations bonafide. We also had the Swami\u2019s Srimad Bhagavatams.
\nWe didn\u2019t study them in any consecutive order. They were just there to read and grasp.
\nI bought a set but some others didn\u2019t have the money to buy them.
\nI asked, \u201cWhen you get initiated is your karma stopped?\u201d
\nHe said, \u201cYes. It\u2019s like the electric fan is rotating\u2014action and reaction, or karma\u2014but on initiation the plug is pulled. The rotations may go on for a little while, but there\u2019s really no more karma.\u201d
\n\u2014Satsvarupa das Goswami
\n.Excerpt from \u201cMemories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint\u201d
\nby Siddhanta das<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

“I will love you, if you will love me.”
\nSatsvarupa das Goswami: The first initiation was on Janmastami in 1966 and it was so lackadaisical that people got initiated without seriously considering whether they were going to follow the four rules.
\nI wanted to stay independent. I didn’t think I was ready to get initiated, and besides nobody had asked me to get initiated. So I stayed home and typed for the Swami.
\nThe day after Janmastami I showed up at his door and he said, “Oh, you did not come for initiation yesterday.”
\nI said, “No, but I did some typing.” I gave him the typing and he gave me some grapes.
\nHe saw that unless I got invited I was reluctant to get initiated, to go to the morning class, to go to the feasts.
\nIt was a defect on my part and at that time he said something important to me.
\nHe said, “I will love you, if you will love me.”
\nThat statement made a big change in me.
\nHe exposed that I didn’t love him but I was expecting him to always love me.
\nI thought, “Why am I holding back my love for him? Is there something I dislike about his face or his way of talking or something? I do not love him, but I’m expecting him to pour love on me.”
\nI looked at all the ugliness inside myself that made me not love the Swami, and I decided that I should kick it out and love him.
\nHe said, “If you do that, then I’ll love you. But it’s a two-way street.”
\nHe read my heart and my mind and exposed my big barrier.
\nWhen the Swami said, “I will love you, if you will love me,” that became a good instruction for any relationship, certainly with a spiritual master and a disciple or with a husband and wife.
\nYou have to love the other person if you want to be loved.
\nHis words broke a lot of ice, and from then on I stepped forward more and didn’t have to be invited to things.
\nHe once spoke on the telephone about a wedding that he was arranging between Mukunda and Janaki.
\nWhen he hung up the phone he said, “You’re invited to come to this wedding.” I said, “Thank you,” and I went to the wedding.
\nI felt sorry that I had not gotten initiated, so another day I asked him, “Could I get initiated on the next occasion?”
\nHe said, “Well, you’ll have to be a strict vegetarian.” I said, “I already am.”
\nHe said, “Yes, then you can be initiated.”
\nThe Swami was teaching from Dr. Radha Krishnan’s Bhagavad-gita. He said, “The translation is 98% good. Don’t read the purport at all, it’s contaminating, but you can read the translations out loud.”
\nSome of us bought copies of that Gita and during our classes the Swami would ask us to read.
\nHe’d say, “Raymond, read the translation for Chapter 8 Text 7.”
\nWe considered the translations bonafide. We also had the Swami’s Srimad Bhagavatams.
\nWe didn’t study them in any consecutive order. They were just there to read and grasp.
\nI bought a set but some others didn’t have the money to buy them.
\nI asked, “When you get initiated is your karma stopped?”
\nHe said, “Yes. It’s like the electric fan is rotating—action and reaction, or karma—but on initiation the plug is pulled. The rotations may go on for a little while, but there’s really no more karma.”
\n—Satsvarupa das Goswami
\n.Excerpt from “Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint”
\nby Siddhanta das<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36224,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34537\/revisions\/36224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}